It would be great if you would put up suitable videos on these subjects for children. My grandchildren are always so angry - which they learn from home - I would love to be able to influence them with something meaningful to watch on the computer.

(9)
Colonel,
May 24, 2013 7:20 AM

Idealistic but...

In this video Angry birds can feel kindness..in reality the angry "birds" against Israel don't feel the same kindness. They just wanted to wipe out the entire Isreael and jews. It's funny we Christians and jews dwelll in peace campaign while the other side is aggressively exapnding their savage culture and so called religion. You can hear the sound of a clap when two hands join together. What if the other hand wants to destroy you? Sure I can appreciate the video, but it's more like a realm of fantasy. Si vis pacem, para bellum

(8)
Feigele,
May 8, 2013 12:44 AM

Uncontrolled Anger

Yes, there are many legitimate reasons for being angry but we should not seek justice ourselves, instead we should leave it to the proper authorities. Anger could turn against us if not controlled properly.

(7)
Stuart Rosenthal,
May 7, 2013 6:21 PM

Feelings and action are "birds of a different feather."

We must differentiate between anger and what we do with it. Not allowing yourself to feel angry is self-destructive. What you do with your anger afterwards is a different story

(6)
sharona,
May 7, 2013 9:24 AM

while yes there is different anger, some justified, some not. The point is that general anger is not good and we can choose to put it aside and see the good in the general public.

(5)
Wassim,
May 7, 2013 8:24 AM

Mindfulness vs The Reactive Mind

When you're young, you've yet to learn how to get what you want from the world. You don't understand the world yet. You don't understand what you can do to get what you want. All you know is what you want, and you want it immediately. You demand instant gratification. You want food, you express your feelings. You want that toy, you express your feelings. You want to be burped, you express your feelings. You want the adults in the house to be quite so you can enjoy your nap, your express your feelings. When you're young, you learn to express your feelings, if you want to get what you want. Your mind learns to reactively express the desires that sprout in your mind as a consequence of a preceding stimuli. When you're young, the reactive mind usually receives positive reinforcement (because your parents can't stand to leave you crying). This strategy works pretty well for you, until you hit your teens and your desires (your worldly ambitions) suddenly expand beyond your immediate sphere of influence. Your horizons have been broadened, and now you've got your eye on that pretty girl who doesn't even know you exist. Why don't you just 'express your feelings' to her and see how receptive she is? Who knows, maybe she finds the idea of playing Play Station games appealing! Go on, give it a shot! ... No, all of a sudden, you know better. You know it just won't work. You may not realise it, but this is the beginning of the end for your innocence... And, if you don't learn a new strategy (for how to get what you want), it might just be the beginning of the end for you altogether. "Oh dear! I'm much too young for this politics" you think to yourself... but your ambition has got you in a trance. You're enchanted. You're under her spell, and you don't even know it. You probably think she'll be impressed if you score a goal with a scissor-kick or come up with a novel and elaborate dance for the post-goal celebrations! Hah! Think again. Learn to CONSIDER things HOLISTICALLY.

(4)
Rafi Hecht,
May 5, 2013 10:22 PM

The eggs were the motive

The reason for the hatred was because the pigs stole the birds' eggs, which is the source of life for them. This wasn't just pure pride. The next time Hamas blows up our children chas veshalom I will remember this video! Thanks a lot :-(

(3)
ChaimZeev,
May 5, 2013 6:39 PM

Only in a fairytale

Sorry, here in the Middle East true kindness will only be responded to with hatered

Anonymous,
May 7, 2013 4:17 PM

Middle East and be kind I'm not agree. As long as some people teaching hate. We need Kind David who was fight with the enemy and not get in to explanation .

(2)
Anon,
May 5, 2013 6:03 PM

Stolen Eggs

In the actual game, the birds are mad at the pigs because the pigs stole and ate their eggs. It wasn't just a matter of pride; it was a matter of wrongdoing remembered. The problem with that is that when we hold onto a wrong somebody else has done to us, we also hold on to our anger. Hitting the blind pig still would have been wrong, but if one does it 'for the eggs,' then one could feel justified.

Anger may be a choice, but it's a choice one needs to consider carefully. You need to be aware of yourself, what you've lost, and what you stand to lose in order to get rid of certain kinds of anger.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!